All Along The Watchtower
by FanWriterWV
Summary: Kara's still on Earth, adjusting to her new life, when she makes a startling discovery. PostCrossroads.


_**All Along The Watchtower**_

"_I have to get back!"_

"_Not yet. You have someplace else to go, first…"_

"_Gaeta, what the frak are you talking about?"_

"_Take my hand…"_

SIX MONTHS LATER

In her dreams, the Viper looked brand new. No blast marks, no patched and re-patched armor. Gaeta smiled as she climbed inside.

"It's a little something I had fabricated for you," he said. "I think you're ready to go back now."

"I'll show them the way…"

Kara woke up with a start. The dream had seemed so real…but she was still here, in her apartment in the city called San Diego, on Earth.

Kara turned on the TV. The news was still the same, still alternately depressing and tabloid. The Americans were still fighting in Iraq. Tensions were rising with Iran. Even after several months, Kara still found life on Earth hard to get used to. Aside from the fact that they didn't have interstellar travel, what surprised her wasn't how different, but how alike the Thirteenth Tribe and the Colonials were. Even their technology was mostly similar, except for their computers. They seemed hundreds of years more advanced than anything she'd seen, even on Galactica. Of course, they'd never had to worry about the Cylons infiltrating their systems.

Kara was a police officer now. It had taken her little effort to convince the local department to hire her, with her combat training. She had a partner a guy named Tony, who reminded her a little of Zack, Lee's long-gone brother. They'd become friends mostly because, even though the Terrans were just as human as the Colonials were, she felt more alone here than she ever had back on Caprica.

"So, are you taking the sergeant's exam?" Tony asked her while they were out on patrol that day.

"Nah, I like where I am. Besides, I'm not cut out for detective work."

"Yeah, I've noticed that about you. But you can't get anywhere in life unless you're willing to take risks."

"Is that what they taught you in the Army?" Tony had served in Afghanistan, the first country the Americans invaded after the terrorist attacks of six years earlier.

"Well, that and how to keep your head down. I'm just lucky I never had to go to Baghdad. I might be an even worse basket case than I already am."

Kara laughed as they got a call on the radio; a domestic disturbance in Mira Mesa. The cops she worked with were a lot like her fellow Viper pilots. They didn't have to fight Cylons but they were just as committed to their duty as they were. Kara considered herself extremely lucky to have landed in America, considering what some other parts of Earth were like.

She'd landed in one of the coastal cities of the United States, a vast territory that covered much of the North American continent. Now that she'd spent some time here, she understood why Gaeta had chosen it as her destination. Like Caprica, America was a democracy and was Earth's leading superpower. They had the resources the Colonials would need when they got here.

Kara got home later that evening. It had been another day of dealing with the small crisis that people made for themselves. She sighed as she sat down on the couch, back in her civilian clothes-which, like a lot of things here, weren't that much different that what she'd known back home-and turned on the TV. A man, some filmmaker, was holding a news conference. A stone coffin that looked vaguely familiar was prominently displayed for the reporters in attendance. Kara was about to change the channel when something she saw on the side of the coffin made her sit up. It was just one word, written in the ancient language that the Terrans called Greek but which both they and the Colonials shared. But it was enough to instantly grab her attention. It was a word that had struck fear into the hearts of Colonials for thousands of years. A word that was half myth; for them it represented nothing less than pure evil. Much as the Terrans feared their Devil, the Colonials feared this name:

_Iblis._

"Frak me," Kara whispered.

TBC???


End file.
